Here is a list of commonly stored pantry items

[Dee]

Here is a list of commonly stored pantry items and their shelf life:

 

Use within six months:

Powdered milk (boxed)

Dried fruit (in metal container)

Dry, crisp crackers (in metal container)

Potatoes Use within one year:

Canned condensed meat and vegetable soups

Canned fruits, fruit juices and vegetables

Ready-to-eat cereals and uncooked instant cereals (in metal containers)

Peanut butter

Jelly

Hard candy, chocolate bars and canned nuts

May be stored indefinitely (in proper containers and conditions):

Wheat

Vegetable oils

Corn

Baking powder

Soybeans

Instant coffee, tea and cocoa

Vitamin C

Salt

Noncarbonated soft drinks

White rice

Bouillon products

Dry pasta

Powdered milk (in nitrogen-packed cans)

 

 

In addition to the above items, my family stores honey, sugar, preserves and other niceties. We store items we use regularly such as ketchup, mayonnaise, jello, corn starch, canned soups, spices, dehydrated onions and dehydrated carrots, tomato paste and sauce. We store paper supplies and hygiene items too. [Don't forget your pets.

At first this all seems very overwhelming, but we decided to begin with one item per week and it has grown. Sometimes we have extra cash (though infrequent it may be) and add more to our stock pile. Other times we have less and draw more heavily from this store.

 

Invest the time now to learn what even the backyard squirrels know: Put away while there is, so there is when there isn't!

 

 

 

[Guest Guest]

Yes good list . I also store up things I know I'll use like TP and kleenex when it's on a really good sale. I have lots of space to store those things. Figured when dad and mom get their new house by the cabin I'd fill their place with some of my extras. My sister sugested a house warming party for them where everyone brings a paper pruduct. But they might need stuff before that. Di

[Deblyn]

I have a bit of stuff put by, but not as much as I'd like, and we may need it. from what I read on various forums the Uk don't seem to be taking the stocking up and supplies advice like this very seriously; they'll all panic at the last minute, though.

[Homesteader]

DH and I went down to the basement yesterday to check on our pantry. Rearranged everything, checked dates, noticed what we were short on. Funny how we sometimes forget some of the stuff we buy. I had about 20 boxes of mac and cheese I forgot about. Bought them on sale, tucked them away and since I'm on lo carbs I forgot about them. I guess DH will be having them alot in the near future!

[Guest Guest]

Reci -

That's a good list to go by... but the key to it all is in keeping things rotated so that you don't end up "loosing" things that you bought...rotating your food stocks also gives you a really good guage to know how much of any one thing that you really need.... there's no sense buying 300 lbs of something that you aren't going to use much of...

 

I do alot of food storage and usually have on hand the recommended "years supply".... but I have found that it's easiest for me if I sit down and figure out a menu that can be rotated also... and then store based on that menu.... For me, that way I'm not buying a bunch of stuff that I really won't ever use.... With the way the world seems to be going... having that little bit of storage could mean the difference between life or death... unfortunately. Keeping up a good basic stock of things in the pantry is really dear to my heart.... I have known the days when I didn't know where the next meal was coming from for me and my child.... I plan on never being there again....having the storage allows me to feel a bit more secure in my life....

 

Just my $.02 worth...

 

LM

[Dee]

I hear you Llamamomma and everyone else. If I have forgotten things on the list or if you want to add to the list please do so.

It has been suggested by the local authorities in our area to start stocking up on bottled water. We are not to far from the reservoir that supplies water to our area and to New York City and its subs. This reservoir is also located near a militant muslim camp in upstate NY that the FBI has been watching very closely since 9-11. They have received many weapons by mail and UPS and the FBI is monitoring that. This is the camp... ( they bought 400 or more acres of land and built homes, schools, mosques on the land, they also enclosed the area with barb wire so outsiders can't get in unless they go through guards)

One of the 9-11 culprets who drove a car to Chicago for Al Quaida lived at this muslim camp.

[Guest Guest]

That's scary, Reci!!

Their starting to talk preps more on local news down here too.....

[Guest Guest]

Good list Reci - thanks for all the stuff you find.

 

Lowlander - I think you're right about a lot of people in the UK scoffing at having a supply. Some people I know think it's downright selfish

 

Stargirl

[Linda]

don't forget the after dinner rolls(toliet paper) to figure a years supply 0ne roll per person per week.

we can our own water. i can water when doing the canning to fill up the canner when there isn't enough of the other also in the winter when the air gets dry in the house it adds .

moisture back into the house as will as warm it up.

oh,almost forgot, everytime i empty a bleach bottle, i fill it with water. we have been without power for up to a week before and those bleach bottle of water sure help keep it clean.

I have a book around here some where that tells how much of what to store per person for a year. it takes ages in. don't know where it is right now. but it is here some place.